FUGITIVE AN EXPERT SHOT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 267, 13 October 1941, Page 6

FUGITIVE AN EXPERT SHOT

L’ UUiIIMJ aiv ~ HOKITIKA, Oct. 12. The Kokatahi district is known tor its good shots, but there can be few in New Zealand in Graham s class. Stories of his neighbours which tell of his prowess include the following: | Graham once shot a deer between the eves at 800 yards, a feat witnessed by two other men with him. He was so f r o od with a .22 Winchester automatic that lie could shoot ducks on the wing. Even as a youth he was regarded as an extremely fine shot, and lie has had constant practice since. His collection of rifles was his pride and ho kept them m perfect order, lie also kept huge supplies of ammunition, though it is thought that his stocks for the seven millimetre Mauser must be getting low by now. In hands as skilled as Grahams that gun can be fired at almost machine-gun speed. It cannot be gainsaid that there was a pitched battle at Kokatahi. Graham was a wounded man and had he walked such a long way he must have displayed tlio fortitude of a super-man. file neither smoked nor drank, and his fitness was an example, to many men younger than his 40 years. On Ins arrival at Koitcrangi on Saturday mornincr the Commissioner of Police interviewed the militant men who came from Greymouth and rushed to a clump of bush against police orders the previous evening, and while he thanked them for their earnestness and efforts ho expressed regret at their appaient lack of discipline. . The plight of the women in the district is tragic. At night they take shelter together with the guardsmen -at j the ready. . . . T - , , Farmers out milking in the Jvofcatahi district on Saturday morning would not stir without a rifle and a 113 This afternoon a bomber plane made a number of reconnaissances of the district, following the dispatch of police and Home Guard posses with more than 30 members ol the Burnham c-anip Territorial signals company, which established outposts and provided intercommunications by radio telephony over a wide acreage in toward Camelback mountain from the Kokatahi hall. During earlv manoeuvres two signallers were on top of the hall with telescopes. The bomber’s flight was a spectacular one, the machine flying low over Camelback, and in parts it appeared to ■be just skimming the trees. The patrolling police, which have been considerably augmented from all parts of the Dominion, and guardsmen combed a large area right back to Camelback, and they were all recalled within a few' seconds on signalling equipment stationed at the hall

for the purpose of meals and pJacement for night operations. During the afternoon a bloodhound was used. The dog was started off on a trail of bloodstains, the operations being in the charge of Detective W. Cunningham assisted, by Sergeant W. Kelly, arms expert, Wellington, and Constable Stuart. After sniffing the bloodstains and working for a brief time the dog broke away and leisurely jogged to the Graham homestead, where he coiled up on the front verandah, which still carries the bloodstains of Wednesday night’s shootings.